Sara Rowghani’s Post

I don't know how to feel about continually being let down by outside hires. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about: - a "PR" firm that sent really shitty cold emails via my personal LinkedIn. - a third-party dev company with supposedly great plugins that sold us on products they didn't actually have. I guess this is common, but still... not fun. - a company that I wanted to have run our socials and get some brand recognition. We changed objectives and plans so often that nothing ever happened. From now on, I'm going to hire internally only. Part time or full time employees with a set schedule and hourly rates based on actual work done. Lesson #3658 learned. Bring projects inhouse as soon as possible. #startup #FounderJourney #founder

Band-aid decisions can end up costing a lot of money for startups. There's so much value in this YCombinator video. A summary, are you hesitating about: - Hiring a FANG engineer? 🧑🚀 - Defining growth solely through paid ads? 💉 - Opting to co-host events rather than hustling solo? 💸 - Paying a £50K retainer to a PR agency to handle everything for you? 🙊 - Avoiding payment plans for significant bills? ⏳ - Insisting on customizing non-impactful elements? 🎨 - Giving equity to advisors for magically achieving product/market fit? 🧙 - Hiring an employee without fully understanding their role? 👩🔬 Video link in the comments below 👇

“This person had that opportunity which is why he made it! Only if I had gotten the same opportunity, I’d have made it too.” Well, I beg to differ. Opportunities don’t knock on your door out of the blue. You pull strings to create them. For instance: Mark Zuckerberg didn’t stumble upon the idea of Facebook just like that. He knew he wanted to build a product using his expertise in code. He tried and tried harder. And that resulted in him creating an opportunity for himself that led him to build the leading platform. “But that’s just a 1 in a million kind of a thing.” I agree! So let’s take another example: A friend of mine wanted to solely work for SaaS clients because that’s where his interest was. He reached out to several people and applied to multiple SaaS companies over a span of a year while working on his skillset. Until one day, when one of the guys he approached 4 months earlier got back to him. Fast forward to today – he’s working for a growing SaaS Marketing Agency while juggling multiple other clients in the same niche. You see? The opportunity did not knock on his door. He created it by staying focused, talking to people, applying to places, and upskilling himself. - If you want to collaborate with a brand for your business, reach out to them and make it happen.  - If you want a raise, ask your employer.  - If you plan to grow your business, do your homework and start seeking investments from VCs or angel investors. It might not happen right away, but it’ll set the ground for a big opportunity down the road! The moral is: don’t wait for opportunities, seek them! And you’ll find one right at your door in due time. Now, how you Grab those opportunities is a post for another day.

Ex-Boss: “It’s just not working out. We need everyone in San Francisco.” Here’s the background of the story: In early 2016, 3 cool things happened: → I decided to trade the ad agency world for startups → I landed a Head of Marketing job at a coding startup → I figured out the Quora algo & ghost-wrote content driving 8M+ views But then the startup founder: → Decided to suddenly move the company to SF → Demoted my job title after I was already hired → Refused to offer a reasonable cost-of-living adjustment → Pushed me out when I refused to go along That bad experience led me down the path to where I am in 2023. Today, I’m running my own agency with ~15 FTE’s. Lessons I learned from that bad experience that I apply to Odyssey: → Hire people I believe in and let them be great → 100% remote work environment → Set clear expectations and stick to them No bait & switch. Hire good people. Be honest with them. It’s really that simple.

Today I saw an early-stage startup founder ask his LinkedIn community about hiring for marketing. Considering I've been on the ground scaling marketing at a few startups, I have a lot to say on the subject! Sharing below what I commented on his post (and I rarely comment on posts): 1. Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with a scrappy, data-oriented generalist who can bring on the right creative agencies/contractors to support the brand/content/etc. efforts. I wouldn't hire someone junior (field for leadership capabilities) and I wouldn't expand the team until you know what channels are working for your product and buyer (channel <> product, channel <> market fit!). 2. Give that person access to Reforge. They don't even need to take a live class. Pay the $1k/year to give them access to the resources, platform, and community. I've continued to pay for it out of pocket - that's how helpful the community/platform is to me as a marketing leader at a Series A startup. 3. Once something is working (and I mean really working), start to hire for specialization. Don't hire demand gen until you know you need to max your pipeline. Don't hire a digital marketer until you know you have a budget to hand over to them/feel confident about the returns of that budget allocation. 4. Don't hire a marketer if you (the founder) are not ready to hand over the keys to the growth/GTM strategy. You'll inevitably be close to/part of the strategy, but you can't (and shouldn't) expect a leader (with expertise) to simply execute your playbook. #startup #startupmarketing #earlystagehiring

In the world of startups, we‘re all ears about getting shit done and being scrappy. At a point, you need to be very clear on what’s possible and what’s not You can’t have one full-time marketer and one intern to manage and build a marketing pipeline worth millions. You need to provide your marketing lead with enough resources for him to be successful Right from marketing budgets, Resources & time Work with People who want to invest in the above Ask your hiring manager the right questions Everyone wants results, few want to invest Marketing and growth win when there is investment, Great people and time . “The most common way to find a bad manager or company is “Get the revenue, and then we’ll invest.” #Marketinghiring #growthmarketing #teammanagement

Big news 📣 I was laid off yesterday from my day job, and I’m open for hire 💪🏼 I’m a generalist and a servant leader who loves building and scaling communities, podcasting, marketing/branding, executing content strategy, and doing a bit of everything in startups! If you want to add a jack-of-all-trades to the team, DM me. Let’s build something cool 🚀 I’m proud of what we did at Threado. Some highlights: ➡️ Built a community of world-class community builders from brands like Notion, Salesforce, Mixpanel, HubSpot, Meta, Square space, etc ➡️ Hosted over 30+ events in 1.5 years, including fireside chats, AMAs, and Twitter Spaces. ➡️ Started initiatives like podcasting, where I recorded 35 episodes with incredible community builders from Webflow, Hubspot, Asana, Notion, Morning Brew, Calendly, etc ➡️ Led a team of 4 and strategized + executed marketing initiatives like rebranding, content distribution, building in public, and community newsletter. ➡️ Played a crucial role in community-led growth, which generated thousands of $$$ in revenue. I’m a product-centric founder with a chip on the shoulder. I took a SaaS product from 0 to $30K ARR to sell it for 6 figures while working full-time, and I constantly tinker with side projects. I also host a podcast called The Undefeated Underdogs, where I interview ambitious founders, VCs, and startup operators. Link here: https://lnkd.in/gFvnVShx Previously, I worked at Product Hunt, Draftbit(YC 18), and briefly at On Deck. In my free time, I help and advise early-stage founders with building in public, community, distribution, growth, and content. I’m open to roles at the crossroads of community, marketing, and content at early-stage startups, generally at Seed or Series A, where they have PMF and are figuring out how to scale things to the next level. If you know any founders looking to hire, please tag them below! It would mean a lot if you spread the word! Thanks 🙏🏼

It’s been 3 months since I started working for an awesome startup in the USA, and I have learned so much in the past few weeks. 1. I was hired for a reason. My biggest fear before being hired was that they wouldn't like me or that I wouldn't be good enough. After I was hired, the fear shifted to "I will discover that I’m not good enough at my job." I've been working with Content Marketing since 2019 and Nurturing for over a year now, but my irrational side was telling me that I would suddenly realize that I’m an imposter. That didn’t happen because I was hired for a reason – because I’m good at what I do, and for what I don’t understand or need to improve, I dedicate time to learn. 2. Content and Nurturing need to work together. My biggest challenge in my past jobs was trying so hard to defend that yes, nurturing is important, but the valuable content machine could not stop. I think it’s not possible to do great work at nurturing without valuable content. But in the past, I could not make the two things work together – maybe if I was more mature, had more data, and real examples of projects that made this work, I could have convinced my managers. But I couldn't at that time, and now I have the opportunity to implement the strategy that I have always believed in. Also, I've learned to edit podcasts and interviews, and I could work again on things I love like blog posts and landing pages, without letting nurturing fall by the wayside. I hope everyone is having a great start to 2024 and learning new things. Feel free to share one or more things you've already learned this year! #newlearnings #contentmarketing #nurturing #startup #carrergrowth

🚀 I’ve had hiring on the brain lately - specifically, someone to help manage a growing content and growth engine. For all of you in a similar boat (I’m looking at you, early to mid-growth startups), here’s a starter pack of sorts for what your new hire should dive into when onboarding. 🌟 1. Immerse Themselves in the Brand: Before they type a single word, they should dive deep into your brand’s mission, voice, and audience. Think of it as method acting, but for marketing. Get to know the story, the tone your company swears by, and exactly who you want to be chatting with.. 2. Meet Their New Best Friends—Data and Feedback: Have them essentially grab coffee with analytics. Cozy up to customer feedback. The numbers and notes they’ll gather are like their GPS. 3. Roadmap Plan:  Sketching out a content calendar that aligns with your business goals will be clutch. Are you more focused on driving awareness, boosting engagement, or scaling conversions this quarter? The roadmap should outline not only what story you’re telling each week but also why and how it fits into the bigger picture. 4. Create and Iterate: Producing compelling content that resonates with your audience is a great way for them to get their feet wet. Then, iterate based on performance data. Remember, every piece of content is a mini-experiment. The more you tweak, the better the formula gets. 5. Network Internally: Encourage them to connect with different teams to gain diverse insights and hidden gems that could spark their next content idea. Supporting the initiatives of other teams, and highlighting their expertise through articles or videos can help recruiting attract talent and sales to attract prospects. Let me know of any questions as you navigate hiring for content roles. 🌈💥 #NewHire #ContentCreation #StartupLife #MarketingStrategy #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork

Reflecting on my journey from being hired to leading hiring processes in early-stage startups - here are three golden nuggets from my journey of building content teams: 1.) It's not just about skills; it's about alignment. Questioning why candidates want to join and how they connect with your product is very important. A shared passion goes a long way. 2. Tailoring marketing strategies is an art. They may be high-achievers in their previous role, but do they understand your product's journey? Even seasoned content marketers may stumble into a new terrain. Perseverance and the ability to think beyond past experiences are two skills you need to focus on when hiring for managerial positions. 3.) As a founder, are you open to creative collaboration, or have a linear marketing mindset? Do you love micromanagement? If the latter, opt for doers over innovators. My hiring approach involves; 1.) understanding the founder's vision, 2.) analyzing product potential, and 3.) creating a strategic roadmap for team building, ensuring every hire aligns with the broader goals. Ready to kick off your content team adventure but feeling a bit lost? Let's chat. In the past 18 months, I've been the matchmaker for several tech brands, helping them find and keep dream content teams. Let's build a squad that not only rocks your vision but sends your startup soaring to new heights. 🚀 #hiringinsights #startupjourney #contentteams #founders #techstartups